A Boy with No Where to Go

The Year Apart

Emily had been working harder than usual and the people around her were beginning to notice. For the last few months, Emily had been getting everything ready according to what the employee had told her over the phone that she'd need to have. She would make sure that dangerous objects were kept in safe places and even moved out of her old apartment and into one that had three bedrooms! One for guests, one for Henry, and one for herself. That made things much easier and it allowed her to have more space than the kind she'd had before. 

It had ended up taking her a year to get everything ready, but she was determined enough to go through with everything. "This is all for Henry," she would whisper to herself when she was working on something to get the adoption pulled through. 

Meanwhile, life for Henry had gotten much worse. There was another foster kid that had been brought into their home. His foster parents were kind to the lady and ended up taking a liking to the little girl. They had always wanted a blonde child to take care of unlike his dark brown hair. And her blue eyes held a shining innocence while his eyes were dull while he lived in the house. The parents immediately began to shower her with gifts and food and asking her about herself. Her voice was quiet, something that the parents liked considering how Henry's voice was a little rough around the edges. 

He didn't say anything as he walked back into the kitchen to start making lunch for his "family". While doing so, he brushed against his jacket that hung on the coatrack and saw a slip of paper fall out. He turned around and picked it up, curious as to what was inside of it. His throat constricted slightly as he held the small piece of paper in his hand. It was Emily's business card. It had her number and where she worked on the top of it as well as her phone number. Henry was tempted to run to the home phone and to dial in the number, but he knew better. His foster parents would become suspicious and ask him who he was calling. 

Instead, he held the paper close to his chest and silently went to the room without making lunch. They could make it for today with out him, he thought as he sat down on the mattress that was laid on the floor of what was supposed to be his room. As soon as he was in privacy, he began to cry slightly. Even though he had been there for a short time, he had made a small connection to the older woman. "But she betrayed you," an evil voice in his head said. 

"She...cares about me," he said between sobs, "More than anyone has." 

"She did that only to take pity on you," the voice said. 

"No...she showed me true compassion. She stayed with me while I was sick. She...she," Henry began to weep again. 

"She gave you up," the voice said. His eyes widened. Images of the times he spent with Emily popped into his head. However, they were beginning to change. She seemed to be more irritated towards him and when the two would talk they'd end up yelling. Was that how life was for them when he stayed there? He didn't know what to think anymore. 

As the year drug on, Emily worked harder while Henry dealt with the battle inside his head. Both consumed in thoughts of each other. One full of hope and excitement, the other filled to the brim with confusion and the endless loneliness that enveloped him. This was going be a hard year for both.